Apparatus for handling loose material



oct. 21,1925. A1,558,984

. J. S. HOUSMAN APPARATUS -FOR HANDLING LOOSE MATERIAL Filed Oct. 15,1921 i 2 'Shoots-Shoot 2 l 1111/1 nl 'la g Ja/m/SHo//SMa/v A TTO'RNEYPatented Oct. 27, 1925.

UNITED A s'rarlizs 1,558,934 PATENT OFFICE.- g

JOHN s. HOUsMAN, or CHICAGO,ILLINOIsyAssIGNOnTO GOOD-MAN MANUFACTURING lCOMPANY, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FORiHANDLING LOQ'SE MATERIAL.

Application filed October 15, 1921. Serial No. 507,857.

To U wlmi/t 'it may conca/fn:

Be it known that I, JOHN S. I-IoUsMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented an Improvement in Apparatus for Handling Loose Material, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements inv apparatus for handling loosemateriahand has for its principal object to produce a new and usefulapparatus of the class described and an improved methodof operating` thesame.

The invention may best be understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in

vwhich Figure 1 is a plan view illustratingI a typical installation ofmy improved apparatus in a mine.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of the guide.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-section of the guide and jack constituting aportion of the present invention.

One of the common practices in mining operations is to advance the workalong a comparatively narrow room, as for instance, when .formingentries in a mine, or when removing material by small .sections orslices vancing the end wall or working face in any one of severalwell-known methods, such as pick mining or blasting. The loose materialfrom the working face is broken down and deposited in a pile on thefloor of the mine adjacent the face, asis shown in Figs. 1 and 9., inwhich 1 indicates the working face of the room, 2, 2, the side wallsthereof, and 3 a pile of loose material resulting from breaking down theworking face. I

Among the many methods of removing the loose material heretoforeemployed is that of employing a draft operated scraper which isreciprocably moved on the mine floor to gather the material andtransport it to the mine cars. My improved apparatus is designed to usewith scraper devices of the class described, and provides a novel meansfor anchoring the advance guide for the draft ropes adjacent the workingface, together with means affording lateral movement of the advanceguide so that the path of movement of the scraper may be shifted Suchrooms'. are formed by ad-v `however, that any other suitable form ofreciprocating scraper may be utilized as desired.

Vith scrapers of the general class above described, it is necessary toprovide a suitable advance guide, such as a sheave or its equivalent,anchored at or near the working face 1, so that the tail rope 6 may betrained over it to draw the scraper rear-- wardly as near as ispracticable to the work-r ing face. As heretofore practiced, guides havebeen attached to a mine jack of the usual type and the jack has beenfixed in a lgenerally vertical direction so as to engage l between theroof .and the floor of the mine,

or in some instances, at an incline between the roof and the workingface, or the worl-I- f ing face and the ioor. Another method has been tofix a guide directly to the working face by embedding ananohor 'in the`mine wall. `Such devices, however, have proven unsatisfactory for onereason or another. In using mine jacks it is usually difficult to find asuitable place for firmly fixing the jack, particularly when the jackyhas its lower end engaging the floor, in

which case it is necessary to dig out the loose material adjacent theface of the mine to get a firm footing. Furthermore, in all of themethods heretofore employed, it has been necessary to shift the positionof the anchoringmeans of the guide several times during the gathering ofthe pile, in order to allow the scraper to dig at various points acrossthe room.

Referring now to my improved apparatus, I provide a jack 8 comprisingan' elongated body portion 9, a telescoping pick portion 10 at one endthereof, and a Screw device 11 adjacent the opposite end thereof. Aseries of holes 10a, 10il are provided in the pick portion 10, andarranged'to register with a pin 10h on the jack 9 to adjust the lengthof the jack. The screw device 11 lll) may comprise any suitably operatedineclianism adapted to expand the jack longitu dinally so as to engagethe opposite ends 12, 1-2, 'o-t the'-jacli v'Withthey sidev vvalls2, 2.In the embodiment illustrated', this'v screw member comprises a shaft 13having threaded engagementl with a sleeve 14 abuttingcircular guard 18.A slieave 19 is rotatably mounted Within said gua-rd and is retained inplace by a ring,` 2O having threaded engagement with the` sleeve 17, andprovide-d with a radially extending arm`21 i'orunscrewing the ring whenit is desired to remove the Asheave-19 from the gua-rd 18. Means=toroiling the sheavc' comprises an annular recess 22 formed in the'hubof saidsheave and having an oil pluie` 24 communicatingvthereivithl"rllhe entire guide member 16 is adjustable in any desired position alongthe body member 9 o'i' the j acl; as already described, and is providedWith'suitable* means for 'holding it in position Ysuch as a set screw 25'carried by the sleeve 17.

The use and `operation of mvvdevice is as follows: Aftery the loosematerialhas been dislodged from the Working-'1 tace into a pile'7 thejack S is placed transversely oi' the entry or slice adjacentandsubstan-4 tially parallelavith tliewvorking tace.' The jack "isreadilyput into position Yalcove the top ot the pile oit loose material3, as indicated in Fig. 2, so thatthe ends 12, 12, have a rm foundationin the side ivalls 2, 2. The tail rope .G connected with thescraper istrained over the pulley19 by removing thel ring- 20 and slidingthe'sheave 19 laterally` ironfi-underthe guard' 18 a sufi'icient -disftanceto receive the' tail rope.-

The sheave 19 and 'ring 2O arethen replaced to their normal positionsshown in F 1g. L1, so that the tailg'fropcfo' Will'be linaintailned'from'acoi-y dental displacen'ientby thegi'iardV 18. The device is then readyfor operation. The scraper is movedrecipi'ocably to gather niaterial inthe usual manner. It is desirable, however, to change the path ofmovement or' the scraper from time to time and this may be accomplishedby sliding the` guide member 16 laterally along the j ach 8 to any'desiredposition.

Although I have shown and described one form in which my invention maybe em bodied, it Will be understood that many' other means may beemployed `for accom'- plishingthe same results Without' departing Jfromthe spirit and scope ot my invention. My improved apparatus may also 'beadvantageously applied to uses other than' that shown and describedherein. 1 do not theretore Wish to be understood as limiting my.- selito the specilic construction'or use illustrated herein excepting` asspecifically lim;

ited in the appended claim.'vv

1 claim as my invention: 1n an advance guide for a reciprocably operatedscraper1 the combination of a jack adapted to be fixed between lateralabut! ments, comprising a telescoping pick portion at one end thereofanda screw device adjacent the opposite end'thereoi, a sleeve memberslidably inoimted on saidjacli, a rope guard on said sleeve, a ropesheave loosely mounted 'coaxially with said sleeve and Within saidguard, and' means vfor securingsaidv sleeve member in a plurality ofpositions along' said jack.

Signed at Chicago,`in the'county of Cook and State of illinois` thisthirteenth dayotI October, 1921.

JOHN s. i-ioUsMAN.

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